


The Human's Guide to Underground Monsters

by ChickensaurusWrecks



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, guidebook
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 15:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20509016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChickensaurusWrecks/pseuds/ChickensaurusWrecks
Summary: A premier guide to the monsters of the Underground, for better understanding by humans.





	1. An Introduction to Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to throw a lot of personal headcanons into this one, so be warned.

**The Human's Guide to Underground Monsters**  
By: D. Philips, K. Matthews, H.L. Xi

First edition, published 232X

Chances are, if you're reading this, you will have been affected by the falling of the Mt. Ebott Barrier in the year 231X. This event gave human society much to adjust to, not least the arrival of several different varieties of monsters who look nothing like us. When first human/monster contact was established, there was a great deal of concern - not for our safety, but theirs. After all, if human society has not yet worked out true harmony with people of a different ethnicity, why should it take well the news that they would have to share the surface world with thousands of sapient beings who look near-nothing like them? Thankfully, incidents of inter-race violence have been limited in this case, thanks in no small part to the efforts of one Frisk Dreemurr and their found family of monsters. Nevertheless, books such as this have been commissioned in order to help explain to human society the workings of their new neighbours.

This book is intended to help the understanding of monsters from a scientific perspective, but can be read by anyone who takes an interest and would like to learn more. Any effort made to understand monsters better so that the divide in society can be more easily crossed is a noble effort and greatly appreciated. However, despite their radically different appearance from us, it would pay not to view them as mindless animals and talk from a position of superiority, as if this were any encyclopedia of nature. Monsters, once again, are sapient beings in the vast majority, and warrant every bit as much respect as human people would deserve. As such, the vast majority of the information contained within this guide was derived from communication and co-operation with the monsters in question.

**An Introduction to Monsters**

First of all, it should be understood that monsters live their lives much like humans, and the presence of a monster is no more anything to be feared than the presence of a human.

Monsters, internally, are biologically very different from humans. While humans are carbon-based life forms who are mostly filled with water, monsters' bodies are made of magic. This allows the bodies of monsters to take on wildly different shapes and sizes than humans will ever achieve. However, this same property also makes monster bodies much more unstable than human bodies, and they are particularly vulnerable to being attacked by physical beings such as us. All of the different varieties of monsters that will be described in this volume follow the pattern of being made of magic. As an additional note, monsters' food is also made of magic, and so it gives nutrients to one who consumes it - be they monster or human - but does not pass into waste.

Like humans, monsters are made up of three principal parts: the body (their physical form), the essence (their consciousness), and their SOUL. Studies on the human SOUL have previously revealed that it has a physical existence; this has been long speculated by science, but only recently advanced to the current level of knowledge by human-monster joint research. Roughly heart-shaped, it is held together by Determination - the will to continue existing. Human SOULs are coloured based on which aspect of Determination the particular human best embodies. Monster SOULs are the same, though their physical fragility means they can contain only exponentially lower levels of Determination that humans can. As a result, the SOUL of a monster is generally pure white. In addition, monster SOULs are inverted in shape compared to those of humans.

Monsters' health is tied to their mental state as well as physical; a monster that loses hope can easily die. When a monster reaches the point of death - either by old age, disease, or by having lost all hope - they enter a state which is euphemistically called "fallen down" by the monster community. Having fallen down, they become unresponsive, similar to a human who has died. After a few days of having fallen down, their bodies can no longer hold themselves together anymore, and they crumble into dust. The SOUL of a monster, in the vast majority of cases, does not survive afterward. Monster custom has the dust of a deceased fellow be spread over something they most loved, as it is said their essence lives on in their dust. (This seemingly has been proven correct in one case, but the subject is uncooperative, so further research is needed.) Notably, monsters who have died by being harmed by an external force do not enter the "fallen down" state, instead crumbling into dust as they pass away.

Monster courtship and birth of a child does not necessarily involve sexual contact - though it has been seen that some monsters do have external genitalia, they do not have immediate practical use. Monsters are born by a process involving the union of two SOULs, where each leaves a part of itself to form a new SOUL, eventually becoming the monsters' child. This can happen between monsters of any two forms and regardless of gender; however, when two different forms of monster have a child, their offspring takes on the form of only one of the parents, seemingly at random.

One other feature that is unique to monsters is their ability to produce forms of magical energy called "bullets", that can be used to affect other living beings. This is technically a form of attack, and can be used to harm. However, the use of bullets takes advantage of a quirk of monsters' magical forms; they are only hurt by an attack to the extent that the attack was intended to hurt them. So, these bullets can be used to harmlessly knock another monster aside, and it would be identical in appearance to one intended as a killing blow. Humans do not have this magical advantage, and so monsters' attacks will naturally harm them. Playful sparring matches can be seen between monsters, where each uses their bullets in turn and tries to avoid the other's attack touching their SOUL - this is not harmful in itself. Different forms of monsters have typical patterns of bullets that most monsters like them use, which will be listed in this volume.


	2. Froggit and Final Froggit

**Froggit**

_Physiology:_ Froggit are very similar in appearance to surface frogs, at first glance. On closer inspection, however, Froggit are distinguished by the addition of a secondary face on their stomach. This face's mouth is the one that is used to eat, not the primary mouth - which is only used to communicate in croaks. A Froggit's secondary eyes are used to find insects and debris located on the ground.

_Personality and Mannerisms:_ Froggit are generally docile, and normally possess no intent to harm any other sapient being. They are unfortunately prone to bouts of short-term memory loss; a Froggit will often be seen hopping into a room and eventually forgetting why it came in. They do not speak our language, and when presented with written forms of it, do not understand what they are looking at. However, they are extraordinarily able to comprehend the intent behind what other monsters as well as humans are saying, and so can interpret what they are hearing very accurately. An interesting corollary to this is that a conversation partner is able to comprehend what a Froggit is saying in a similar way, despite not being able to normally understand the meaning of croaks.

_Culture:_ The life cycle, grouping, and courting of a Froggit are similar in many ways to a surface frog's, only exaggerated. When formed by the union of SOULs, a young Froggit appears initially as a "spawn" egg, which over a period of minutes undergoes rapid metamorphosis to full size. Froggit tend to make their dwellings in overgrown, damp areas, where their preferred grass-borne insects live.

_Common Bullet Patterns:_  
\- Tiny, fluttering bullets, similar in appearance to flies.  
\- A frog about half the size of Froggit, made by magic. It will stay still, then rapidly bound at a target.

**A side note: Final Froggit**

Some Froggit, when particularly mature, go through a second metamorphosis to a phase known as "Final Froggit". This form is much more hardened in appearance and in personality. Final Froggit's appearance is differed from Froggit's by the spikes and jaggedness covering its body and its much tougher, rougher skin. Froggit that have achieved the Final Froggit form are, generally speaking, initially more jaded in personality, as they believe they have seen all that life has to offer. Eventually, they become much happier when they discover the true mysteries of the world. Final Froggit generally live alone if not emotionally attached to another monster.

Final Froggit's bullet patterns are similar to Froggit's but much more intense. The fly bullets are much larger, and the frog bullet bounds off walls to hit its target.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will edit these as necessary based on new information I think up, so these chapters are not necessarily a final product.


End file.
